Main Street to Broadway: Difference between revisions

Main Street to Broadway
Main Street to Broadway
Directed by	Tay Garnett; James Anderson (assistant)
Written by	Samson Raphaelson (writer); Robert E. Sherwood (story)
Produced by	Lester Cowan
Starring	Mary Murphy; Agnes Moorehead; Herb Shriner
Cinematography	James Wong Howe
Edited by	Gene Fowler, Jr.
Music by	Ann Ronell
Distributed by	MGM
Release date	October 13, 1953
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1,350,000
Box office	$444,000

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Main Street to Broadway is a 1953 light drama-comedy film by independent producer Lester Cowan, his final credit, in collaboration with The Council of the Living Theatre, which provided tie-up with a number of well-known Broadway names. Release was by MGM. The backstage story features Tom Morton as an aspiring playwright who hopes to stage a Broadway production, Mary Murphy, as a young lady from Indiana, and radio-TV humorist Herb Shriner in a rare acting role as a hardware store owner.

Tallulah Bankhead is featured in a parody sequence of herself. The list of Broadway luminaries also playing themselves, in smaller cameos, includes Ethel Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore (in his last film), Shirley Booth, Louis Calhern, Faye Emerson, Rex Harrison, Helen Hayes, Mary Martin, Lilli Palmer, John Van Druten and Cornel Wilde. Included is New York baseball manager Leo Durocher. Many others are unidentified, such as Vivian Blaine, glimpsed in a theater lobby.

In one scene, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II create a new song, "There's Music in You", then perform it for their friends, with Rodgers at the piano and Hammerstein singing the vocals.^[2] Mary Martin is later seen rehearsing the song for director Joshua Logan.

The black-and-white film, which has a running time of 97 minutes, was directed by Tay Garnett, screenplay by Samson Raphaelson, based on a story Robert E. Sherwood, and photographed by James Wong Howe. Sequences were filmed in New York, with shots at the Martin Beck and old Empire theaters. Others as story characters include Gertrude Berg, as a landlady, Agnes Moorehead, Rosemary de Camp, Arthur Shields, and, in a fantasy sequence, Florence Bates, Madge Kennedy, Carl Benton Reid, Frank Ferguson, and Robert Bray.

Reception

According to MGM records, the film earned $416,000 in the US and Canada and only $28,000 elsewhere.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
^ Answers.com

External links

[Mannix-1] The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.

[2] Answers.com

[1]

[2]

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-'''''Main Street to Broadway''''' is a 1953 light drama-comedy film by independent producer Lester Cowan, his final credit, in collaboration with The Council of the Living Theatre, which provided tie-up with a number of well-known [[Broadway]] names. Release was by [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]]. The backstage story features Tom Morton as an aspiring playwright who hopes to stage a Broadway production, [[Mary Murphy (actress)|Mary Murphy]], as a young lady from [[Indiana]], and radio-TV humorist [[Herb Shriner]] in a rare acting role as a hardware store owner.
+'''''Main Street to Broadway''''' is a 1953 light drama-comedy film by independent producer Lester Cowan, his final credit, in collaboration with The Council of the Living Theatre, which provided tie-up with a number of well-known [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] names. Release was by [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]]. The backstage story features Tom Morton as an aspiring playwright who hopes to stage a Broadway production, [[Mary Murphy (actress)|Mary Murphy]], as a young lady from [[Indiana]], and radio-TV humorist [[Herb Shriner]] in a rare acting role as a hardware store owner.
 [[Tallulah Bankhead]] is featured in a parody sequence of herself. The list of Broadway luminaries also playing themselves, in smaller cameos, includes [[Ethel Barrymore]], [[Lionel Barrymore]] (in his last film), [[Shirley Booth]], [[Louis Calhern]], [[Faye Emerson]], [[Rex Harrison]], [[Helen Hayes]], [[Mary Martin]], [[Lilli Palmer]], [[John Van Druten]] and [[Cornel Wilde]]. Included is New York baseball manager [[Leo Durocher]]. Many others are unidentified, such as [[Vivian Blaine]], glimpsed in a theater lobby.